


Brave

by damnslippyplanet



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 09:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4740584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnslippyplanet/pseuds/damnslippyplanet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack delivers a message from Hannibal to Alana.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brave

Alana declines to tell Jack where they’ve gone. She suspects he knows anyway - always best to assume that with the FBI - but isn’t planning on volunteering the information. She keeps the laptop screen pointed away from the window to avoid any possibility of location clues. Also so she can face the window herself and watch Margot and Brian outside, chasing Applesauce in circles, disheveled and happy and far away from whatever Jack is about to show her.

She takes a deep breath, steels herself, declines to consider at this particular moment just how easy steeling herself comes these days and at what cost. “All right, Jack. Show me.”

Jack moves his screen close to the note. Of course she recognizes the handwriting, even if Jack hadn’t warned her. Who else writes in goddamn calligraphy these days? She thinks maybe the writing is just a little less smooth and confident than usual, as if it might have been written by someone injured, or in a hurry to get out of town. The thought provides a brief stab of pleasure. Good. 

_You’ll only have to be brave a little longer, Alana. My regards to Margot._

She breathes in and out twice, thinking _steel_. Unbreakable as the pins and rods and plates holding her body together. One more slow breath. “Okay, Jack. Thanks for letting me know.”

Jack backs the screen away from the note. His face appears again. He looks old and tired. “You know we’d give you protection if you’d take it. ”

“Thanks, Jack. We’ll make our own arrangements. The Verger fortune has its uses.” She stares him down and he’s the one who looks away. “Don’t worry about the details. The fewer people who know, the happier we are.”

He nods and gets to the real point of the call: “While I’ve got you, can I show you through the house? You may see something we missed.”

“Because I know them so well.” Alana shrugs, suddenly feels older than her years herself. “Jack, I’m not sure that either of us ever knew either of them. Not for a second. All that professional curiosity and I never broke the surface. But, sure. Show me.”

Jack walks her through the rest of the house. There’s not much to see. Everything is in damnably impeccable taste, of course. Beautiful view. Wind whipping through the empty space where a glass window used to be, ruffling the hair of a technician snapping photographs. In the background, she can see more technicians running their red blood spatter strings all over the back yard, so many it looks more like an art installation than forensics work.

The tour proceeds without event through the dining area, down the hallway, an office with all the standard psychological textbooks but no apparent notes or case files. She notes the light on the desk; he probably worked on Miriam here. Two bedrooms, both beds neatly made, and she wonders if they will find mingled dark and light brown hairs on the pillowcases in either one. Or for that matter if they will find traces of Abigail somewhere in the house. Or Miriam’s fingerprints. Just the ones from her right hand, of course.

In the kitchen, all the dishes are clean and put away neatly, but the pantry has been partially depleted and there’s an impressive pile of empty liquor bottles in the kitchen. She has Jack pause for a moment to show her the bottles more closely, and recognizes a label or two; she’s been privy to Hannibal’s special wine collection. She shares what she remembers, dispassionately, not that anyone really needs proof that Will and Hannibal were here. “That’s a lot to get through even if they stayed here for a few days before moving on, though, Jack. Even for Hannibal, they must have been having quite a party.”

“Could be a party. Could be sterilizing injuries. Maybe they were practicing French cooking. I’m past guessing what happens with those two in a room, Alana. Or three. We’re waiting on confirmation from the lab, but I’m pretty sure Dolarhyde was here.”

“And there’ve been no more Dragon kills, or attempts to contact Ms. McClane?”

“Silence.”

“He’ll be dead, then. Or they hurt him and he went to ground. Either way you won’t hear from him for a while. Your best move is probably following them.” Her eyes stray to the window again. Applesauce has collapsed onto his back, tongue out, kicking at the air as Brian rubs his belly. The windowpanes are thick and she can’t hear the laughter. She could be on another planet entirely. “Jack? Find Hannibal. I like my life. I like my family. I’d like to keep all of it.”

She ends the call before Jack can respond. There’s nothing she wants to hear from him except that Hannibal is in custody and buried so many levels below ground, behind so many layers of security, he’ll never see the sunlight again.

Alana picks up the phone again, reaches their head of security, tells him to start putting their evacuation plan into motion. He offers to bring Margot and Brian back inside, but she tells him to wait. “They’re having a good time. Let them play a little longer while you get things in motion, then I’ll go get them.”

After that call she turns the phone off. Anyone she might want to talk to is already here.

She goes to the window and leans her forehead against the glass. It feels cool, or perhaps she feels feverish. Her breath fogs the window. She watches the scene in the yard for a long time. Margot’s hair has tumbled loose from its braid. Applesauce is delirious with joy. Brian’s stumbling unsteady steps are getting steadier every day. He’ll be happy in Switzerland. 

She was there for a conference once. Didn’t see much but the airport and a crummy hotel, but Margot swears the place they’ve picked out is beautiful, and safe. If they have to stay for a long time, they’ll be fine. Brian won’t even remember home. Maybe Hannibal will be so distracted by finally having Will at his side that he’ll forget about her altogether.

She’ll bring her family inside soon, and later she’ll let herself finally fall apart in Margot’s arms, but not just yet. She presses harder against the glass. So faintly she might just be imagining it, Alana hears the mingled laughter of everything she loves and is on the verge of losing. She watches for a long time as the daylight fades.


End file.
